Verizon Wireless is preparing to force grandfathered unlimited data customers to choose a limited data plan if they go over their 100 GB monthly limit.
Should these customers refuse to commit to a new plan by Aug. 31, Verizon promises that their connection will simply be axed.
Droid Life reports that the carrier will cease to offer its service for users who churn down significant amounts of data on a monthly basis. But what does the company mean by "extraordinary amounts of data"? Is it 30 GB, 150 GB or 300 GB?
Verizon explains that the targeted users are jumping well over the 100 GB mark. The carrier points out that its largest data plan (100 GB a month) is aimed at households where multiple users are sharing a subscription.
"Each line receiving notification to move to the new Verizon Plan is using well in excess of that on a single device," Verizon says.
Verizon notes that its network is a shared resource and, as such, it wants to make sure that all clients get the best experience possible. That is why the company urges the fraction of clients who use "an extraordinary amount of data" to switch to one of the new Verizon Plans by Aug. 31.
Customers who refuse to conform until the end of summer will see Verizon pulling the plug on their connections, but they will be able to reconnect during a 50-day interval by choosing a limited plan.
Just as a reminder, Verizon's 100 GB plan asks customers to shell out $450 per month. To put it into perspective, subscribers who are holding on to grandfathered unlimited lines only pay a monthly fee of $49.99.
According to the carrier, the number of clients who still use unlimited data plans is below 1 percent, and a vast majority of them pay for the service month to month. That happens because the initial contracts have long since expired.
In the past, Verizon's attempts to limit grandfathered unlimited data customers caused some disputes with the Federal Communications Commission.
In 2014, the company was preparing to throttle 4G LTE speeds at crowded locations for customers who jumped the 4.7 GB of monthly data usage. The Commission asked Verizon to justify the reasoning behind the policy, as it seemed more of a way to expand profits than to do appropriate network management. After a few back and forth movements, Verizon conceded and noted that 4G data will remain untouched.
However, the company kept throttling heavy 3G users, a policy that was in effect until the middle of last year. Verizon put a stop to it as the FCC rolled out the new net neutrality rules, albeit it is still debatable whether or not throttling can be interpreted as a "reasonable network management" exception.
On an interesting side note, rival companies such as T-Mobile and AT&T still throttle their own heavy data users of unlimited data when their networks get overloaded, and the FCC seems fine with it.
Unlimited wireless data plans are starting to wane out, but carriers such as Sprint and T-Mobile still allow new clients to sign up for such contracts.
